


If Tomorrow Never Comes

by Binary_Sunset



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Guardian Angels, Bittersweet, Gen, Goodbyes, Prologue, angel!Marco, but not really, has undertones of Jeanmarco, jean is a kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1286812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Binary_Sunset/pseuds/Binary_Sunset
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every night, nine-year-old Jean Kirschtein is visited by his guardian angel, Marco. Tonight, he arrives late, and Jean can tell something is wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If Tomorrow Never Comes

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I did promise this. Just to be clear, this is a prequel to In the Arms of an Angel, which takes place around the time Jean is about nine and Marco is still his guardian angel.
> 
> Also props to the lovely Jean over at horseface-and-freckles.tumblr.com for helping me with the title and also for just being a lovely person in general <3
> 
> This title comes from a song by Ronan Keating that I didn't realise existed. It can be found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6lw1suaZpo. It fits the mood of this piece fairly well, actually.

Jean put his book down on the nightstand and shut off his light. It was only about eight thirty, but he knew Marco was coming.

Marco, the angel with the big, fluffy wings who’d visited Jean every night for as long as he could remember. He’d even let him touch his feathers too, as long as the little boy promised to be careful. The angel would tell stories too, sometimes they were happy all the way through and sometimes they were sad, but Marco always made sure they had a happy ending.

He was like the imaginary friend Jean never had. He was brave and kind and no matter what, he always came for Jean. Always. Of course he’d come tonight too. He had to.

Marco appeared in Jean’s bedroom, silently, right next to the nightlight like he always did, albeit half an hour late. Even in the faint light, Jean could tell there was something wrong. Marco wasn’t smiling like he usually was and it looked almost like he’d been crying. 

Crying or not, his face positively lit up when he saw Jean. The angel rushed over to Jean’s bed and stood beside him. The boy sat up, crossing his legs and looking up at Marco.

“You’re late. I thought you might not come tonight,” Jean muttered, looking up at his guardian angel.

Marco nodded. “I’m sorry. I had to talk to the other angels in heaven. It ended up taking longer than I expected.”

The boy sighed. “I guess that’s okay. It’s not your fault if you had to go. I missed you lots, though.”

The angel looked over at the nightstand, noticing the rather large pile of books on top of it. “Did you read all these while you were waiting for me?”

Jean shook his head. “These are all due tomorrow at the library.”

Marco smiled, looking through the. “Do you think these stories are better than my stories?”

“No! There aren’t any stories better than yours, except maybe Harry Potter.” Jean laughed, looking over at Marco. He didn’t seem to get the joke, his smile quickly fading.

Marco sighed, looking in the other direction. “Jean, I… I can’t tell you stories anymore. In fact, I can’t visit you again, ever. That’s what my meeting was about. Heaven doesn’t… they don’t want me to see you ever again. They gave me tonight so I could say goodbye.” He clenched his fists, trying hard not to burst into tears again.

Jean’s eyes widened. “But that’s not fair! You never did anything bad and I never did anything bad! Why are they taking you away from me!?”

“I wasn’t supposed to talk to you in the first place. I broke the rules, so now I have to follow them,” Marco explained.

The younger boy completely ignored him and rushed to grasp onto his angel, his head only reaching about to Marco’s waist. He pressed his face into Marco’s jeans and started to cry. “But I don’t want you to follow the rules. You’re my angel and you’re supposed to make sure I’m alright. And that means you have to stay with me so I won’t miss you.”

The angel scooped Jean up, gently placing his wings around the boy. He gently ran his fingers through Jean’s hair. “I know, I know. I don’t want to do this either. You’re my human and… I’m so sorry, Jean.” A couple tears leaked from his eyes, getting lost in Jean’s hair. “I’m really sorry.”

The younger boy looked up, surprised to see that Marco was really crying. It just didn’t seem right to see a grownup crying. Jean reached out, gently touching one of Marco’s wings to comfort both himself and the angel. “I’m gonna miss you, Marco.”

The angel nodded and placed Jean back on his bed. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve and took a deep breath. “I know, Jean. I’ll miss you too. I’m so sorry.”

He couldn’t just leave the young boy like this. Perhaps this wasn’t worth the risk after all and it would have been better if he’d just left Jean alone. It was against the seraph counsel’s orders, but he knew it would spare the young boy a lot of pain. Marco gently held out two fingers and placed them on Jean’s forehead. A faint gold glow erupted from them, putting the young boy to sleep.

Marco was able to gaze into Jean’s sleeping mind. He sorted through the boy’s memories, taking out every one involving him. However, he kept his stories, transforming them into vivid dreams of angels and demons, dragons and princes. As soon as the memories were changed, Marco took his fingers away and teleported back to heaven. He’d surely get a tongue lashing from the counsel, but at least Jean was safe from heartbreak.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I hope y'all liked it. To be honest, I almost cried while writing this...
> 
> Anyway, thanks again for reading and I'm always happy to receive praise or critique for my writing.
> 
> Edit: Forgot to mention that I have a tumblr over at aro-ackermans.tumblr.com. I accept prompts and requests and reblog a lot of SnK stuff, so...
> 
> EDIT: This bitch takes [ commissions](https://aro-ackermans.tumblr.com/post/160970900544/hey-everyone-now-that-i-am-officially-no-longer).


End file.
